PlayStation Move shipments hit 4.1 million

Sony has sold shipped more than 4.1 million PlayStation Moves worldwide since launching the motion controller in September, the company said this week.

But Sony has not announced how many Moves have actually been sold to consumers. By comparison, Microsoft sold more than 2.5 million Kinect motion sensors in 25 days. Microsoft expects to unload more than 5 million of the Xbox 360 peripherals by the end of the year.

The two companies are battling it out in the gaming arena this holiday season, trying to each answer to the successful Nintendo Wii in their own way.

With the PS Move, the webcam-like PlayStation Eye tracks a glowing orb on top of the Move controller. Sensors inside also feed motion data to the PlayStation 3 console. Sony likes to push the fact its Move has buttons — key for most traditional video games — unlike Microsoft’s Kinect.

Kinect is a sophisticated bundle of cameras and sensors that identify a gamer’s entire body, recognize movement and listen to a gamer’s voice. No controller necessary.

For a more complete comparison of Kinect and Move, check out my review/report from the Kinect launch.

Clarification: Sony explicitly stated 4.1 million in Move “sales,” but has since retracted from that wording and now confirms 4.1 million in Move “shipments.”